Thompson retiring; throws hat into ring for Finance Committee

LANCASTER — Recently, Town Clerk D. Susan Thompson said that candidates could run a write-in candidacy to fill those seats where no one filed papers.

Last week, she followed her own advice, announcing she was running a write-in campaign for a three-year seat on the Finance Committee. Incumbent Peter CampoBasso did not take out papers for re-election.

Thompson previously announced she will be retiring. In her letter of retirement sent on Monday, she gave her last day as May 12, the same date as the election.

In her retirement letter, Thompson said she was "holding off on retiring until my contract was finalized (with both sides signing); it now appears that will never happen. When I asked at the April 7 Board of Selectmen meeting what the timetable was for re-doing the contract and Jean (Syria) said, 'There is no timetable; we have signed the contract,' she made it clear that there was no chance for negotiation. I would rather leave without a contract than sign what you presented at that meeting."

Thompson had previously said she was working on the contract for the office, to help the person who takes over when she leaves.

In a note to Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco, shared with The Item, Thompson addressed the election.

"As a training exercise, I've asked Barbara (assistant town clerk Barbara Bartlett) to run this year's whole town election from front to back, so there will be no conflict of interest there," she wrote. "I'll stay totally out of it."

Thompson said it is not just a case of filling a vacancy that needed a candidate.

"I have a strong finance background, and I don't want to completely abandon the town when I retire," Thompson said in an interview. Thompson was a financial analyst at Abt Associates, a social sciences research firm in Cambridge, for several yearS before being promoted to controller of Abt's Business Research and Consulting division.

"I wish you well in the search for my replacement; I will help in whatever way I can to ensure a smooth transition," Thompson wrote in her letter of retirement. "I have thoroughly enjoyed being Lancaster's Town Clerk for most of the past 10 years."

The Finance Committee seat is not the only one missing a candidate. No one took out papers for a five-year seat on the Planning Board.